The Kingdom Lights Shined
by mecaka
Summary: AU. Rapunzel and Flynn have been married for almost 7 years, stealing for a living, trying to find out more about her mother. Rapunzel has finally realized that she is the lost princess, and returns to Corona to set things right for the disillusioned King and Queen. (PS, this entire story's going to be jumbled up... I'll (eventually) post a chronological list... probably...)
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I probably should be working on one of my other multi-chapter stories instead of this, but I keep thinking this would be a great story…**

**I respond to ALL signed reviews. I will respond to guest reviews of the latest chapter in the beginning AN of the next chapter (so, I'll respond to reviews of chapter 1 in chapter 2, provided they were left before chapter 2 was posted).**

**Finally, I do not own Disney's _Tangled_ or Taylor Swift's "Long Live" (which heavily influenced the idea for this story).**

Chapter 1: Almost An Ending

"Your Majesty, there's another—"

"No," the queen replied. "Not today. She'll have to wait until tomorrow."

The guard nodded. He gave a short bow, and stepped out of the room, silently shutting the doors he had opened on his way in. He understood. Who in their right mind would come to the palace claiming to be the lost princess, the day after said princess's twenty-fifth birthday? Especially this girl; she had to have a few screws loose. She and the man she was with (who hadn't removed his cloak or hood) insisted that she was the lost princess. The only problem? Her _hair_; she was a brunette, when the princess had had blonde hair.

_Granted, that phenomenon has never been entirely explained_, he thought. Most believed it was because of the flower. It's magic was derived from the sun, so golden locks weren't that surprising. But, both the queen and king were from a long line of dark heads. Some of the more… scientifically-minded had decided there must have been blonde somewhere in the family line _because magic couldn't explain everything_.

Whatever the case, the girl, now standing before him, had undeniably brown tresses; short, too.

"I apologize deeply, madam, but Their Royal Highnesses aren't seeing anyone at the moment. They ask that you return tomorrow." He was shocked when tears began pooling at the corners of her eyes.

"Please? I _have_ to see them. Even if they don't want me, I want to explain why I've been gone; why that _horrible_ witch took me away from them."

"It's not that they don't want you, dear, they just…" he trailed off, unsure of how to console her without misrepresenting Their Majesties.

"Don't believe me?" she prompted, her voice almost breaking.

"No, they're… They go through these things a lot. They're always gracious, but yesterday was her birthday, and they… They're still grieving."

She nodded, turning to her companion. "I suppose we need to go find some lodgings F—Eugene."

"Yes, I guess we do."

* * *

"Blondie, you gotta be more careful: you almost blew it back there!"

"I know; I _know_! I'm just not used to calling you… that."

Flynn sighed. It was his own fault, asking her to call him 'Flynn' for the past seven years. If he hadn't… well, they probably would have starved by now.

He glanced at the simple band gracing his left hand, its more feminine twin peeking out from the end of Rapunzel's overly long sleeves. He smiled, grabbing her hand and pulling her back. She stared up up at him, her wide green eyes shining, partially from tears, partially from the feelings they had confessed to each other seven years ago today. He leaned forward and placed a light kiss on her forehead, on her nose, on her lips.

"Fl-_ynn_," she said softly, dragging out his name teasingly. "Or, should I say, Eu-_gene_."

He grinned at her, and whispered, "I love you, y'know that right?"

"Flynn, what are we going to do if… if they don't… if they don't believe us?"

"We'll survive; we've lived through worse, Rapunzel. And it'll be _them_ missing out: missing out on knowing you, and _being _your mom and dad."

She nodded a little at that. It was true, after all. She and Flynn had proved it in their own minds beyond a shadow of a doubt, so _forget_ anyone who didn't believe them, who called them crazy. _Forget_ the cynics who would forever doubt, if she was accepted by her family.

She'd seen far too much of the world, far too much of _reality_, to not realize that would happen, and that their chances were so very slim.

"Let's go find some place to sleep."

* * *

"How dare someone do that, right after her birthday! Have they no shame? Don't they know how sad we both get this time of year, knowing we're so much farther from finding her, that we've missed _another_ year of her life?"

"Dearest, I'm sure they mean w—"

"No! The can't 'mean well'! They're always _not her_!" The queen broke down, then, falling to her knees as her whole body shook with sobs. "Peter, I can't do this anymore! If this girl isn't her, I don't know what I'll do."

Peter knelt beside his wife, and simply held her, offering her the consolation of a shoulder to cry on, and rock solid support to hold her up through this.

"How about this is the last? No more, after tomorrow."

Catherine drew a shuddering breath, pulled her head from his shoulder, looked him straight in the eye.

"Yes."

**Alright, this is probably going to be the shortest chapter of the bunch. I wanted to set things up, but I'm not one hundred percent sure how much of the movie I'm going to be changing. So I started at (almost) the end! :D**

**Please leave a review, so I know if anyone wants this continued! I love them all so much (especially the really sweet ones)!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Like I said, I started at the almost-the-end. I'm going to start back-tracking from there.**

**While I'm thinking about, I have a poll on my profile. Just wanted to know how people are finding my various stories.**

**Again, I don't own ****_Tangled_**** or "Long Live". (Also, FYI: I'm a big supporter of the 'Rapunzel's-hair-gets-cut-and-doesn't-ever-grow-again' theory... Not sure how important this actually is to _this_ story, but that's just how I've always envisioned it)**

**(Dang, I apologize... I had to re-upload this because I forgot to reply to anonymous reviews!)**

**loveghibli: Thank you, and, while this was a relatively quick update, I can't promise even semi-regular updates. I'm a senior in high school, and I'm in a really tough gifted/talented program that takes up all the time I _don't_ spend on here.**

**Person: Thanks, sis! Hope this satisfies!**

Chapter 2

Her choppy hair was so annoying.

She'd never really gotten used to it. After nearly eighteen years of having hair longer than she was tall, having her hair barely reach her chin was... a lot of things. She couldn't use it to climb up walls or cliffs, couldn't use it to grab things that were out of reach, couldn't use it as a swing, couldn't use it as a pulley system to lift and lower things (including herself), and couldn't even use it as a hiding place anymore. And it was _always_ getting in her eyes, or in her mouth, or it wouldn't lay the way she wanted it to.

A part of her blamed Eugene. The part of her that could be so much like Gothel sometimes that it scared her.

The rest of her—the parts that had somehow not been tainted by Gothel's abuse and manipulation—knew it was Gothel's fault, for stabbing him and threatening her; and _her_ fault, for doubting him, for thinking he might not come back.

_Gothel, not Mother_, she reassured herself.

They'd... Well, actually Flynn, mostly, had found out that Gothel wasn't her mother. A lot of people had known _about_ her, if not had talked to her on a semi-regular basis. They'd started asking if anyone knew of someone she might have had a relationship with, around the time Gothel would have gotten pregnant with her. No one knew anything. And a lot of people had seen her the months between that and Rapunzel's birth, and claimed that Gothel hadn't appeared with-child.

She couldn't be Rapunzel's mother. It wasn't possible to hide a pregnancy eight months along. She _wasn't_ Rapunzel's mother.

So, who was?

* * *

_"You doin' okay, Blondie?"_ came the whispered question, at the same moment it always came: the moment she had to be able to concentrate, or she wouldn't be able to pull... whatever... off; the moment that was far enough in to the heist that he could be worried, but not so far in that the question answered itself.

She waved her hand back at him, hoping he took it as the usual _F__ine-now-shut-up_ that it usually was and not a _No-come-help-me_ that he mistook it for all to often.

She was perched at the very top of a high wall, surrounding a large manor, torches burning at regular intervals, lighting inside and out. Her black skirt, cut narrower than most, hiked up around her knees. Clasped at the join of her collarbones was a black cloak, made more for obscurity than warmth. She was watching, and counting, trying to figure out the timing of the guards rounds before hauling Flynn up beside her and dropping into the yard below.

Flynn was so tense, she could practically taste it in the cool, dry air that surrounded her. _He's so overprotective__! I'm twenty years old, and have been doing this for two years now, for crying out loud!_

This was a lot less like what they normally did though. Here, they were hoping to get information, rather than valuables, and that meant that there was a much higher chance of them getting caught; they'd have to stay and ask the target questions after all.

Said target was an older man, living here with his son's family. That son just so happened to be Captain Thomas Harris of the Palace Guard. According to a less than eager source, he was supposed to be at the Palace tonight for a party. Hopefully, he'd stay out a while.

Thomas's father, William, was one of the men who had helped start up a public records system. He had also once been Captain of the Guard. They were hoping they could find out who Rapunzel's parents were by asking him if he knew of any children who had disappeared almost twenty years ago.

They knew it was a long shot. Especially because that was the same year the princess went missing; he might not recall anyone other than the princess.

A few minutes later, she had figured out how large a gap there was between one guard passing and another coming: only about 90 seconds. As soon as one guard was around the next corner, she began hauling Flynn up to her. When the next guard had passed by, they both dropped onto the well-manicured lawn.

She pushed her hair behind her ears. Most of the strands immediately fell back to where they had been. She let loose an exasperated sigh.

Flynn was already at the corner, ready to distract the next guard long enough for her to get inside. She went up to a window and, happily, found that it was unlocked already. She pushed it open and climbed in.

* * *

Captain Harris wasn't happy. This party was supposed to be Their Majesties chance to forget about their missing daughter, if only for a few hours, and enjoy themselves for once.

But, _of course_, someone had decided to ruin the festivities by showing up and claiming to be the lost princess. _Of course_, Their Benevolent Majesties must "immediately tend to the young girl, and verify the story she had related to them."

He hated having to tell rich, powerful nobles that King Peter and Queen Catherine requested that they vacate the premises as soon as possible. They hardly ever took it well.

But, now, he was standing guard over the girl, at attention just to the left of her door, which was firmly locked. As usual, she had begged to be given a place to spend the night, and clothes for the next few days. He was convinced that, if the princess did return, she'd realize that she could be disbelieved, and turned away. None of the previous girls had left willingly, even if it was decisively obvious that they _weren't_ the lost princess.

He hoped that Their Gracious Highnesses would realize this girl was playing their emotions before they became too attached. He hated seeing their hearts broken again, even more than dealing with arrogant nobles.


End file.
